Rescue Fall
by Der Adler des Mondes
Summary: Shepard's crew "attempt" to rescue a distress signal ship with consequences.
1. Downed Ship

ME3 - Set shortly after Udina and Cerberus attempted Coup at citadel.

Shepard's crew "attempt" to rescue a distress signal ship with consequences.

* * *

_All quiet on the western front._ Shepard thought, mesmerized by her fish tank, whilst sitting at her desk.

They were heading to the next priority, full of anxious energy from the Cerberus attempted coup and the new addition of Kaidan Alenko.

_It's Selfish of me, but I am happy he's here_. Glancing at Kaidan's picture frame on her desk, she paused to consider the showdown between her and Kaidan.

Would she have really shot him? Could she have shot him?

She shuddered at the possibility. _No, I could not_ she admitted to herself.

_My only weakness_.

Her depressing musings were interrupted by Joker's call.

"Hey commander, we have located a distress signal on our path. Should we break off and investigate?" He inquired.

Lisa pondered about it, the priority wasn't all that urgent. Something about fish and the presidium's pools. _Probably krogans_

"Alright Joker, change course." She decided.

"Roger that commander!"

She then heard the distinct voice of EDI on the com.

"It is against Alliance regulations to change the driver settings, Jeff."

"Yeah yeah! Even Alliance has those." Mumbled Joker.

Lisa could have sworn she had a faint "they're tere fo a reazon ya ulcer!" coming from Engineering following Joker's response to EDI.

Chuckling, Lisa picked up after herself, clearing her desk of a tsunami of "stuff": datapads and other items of command. Neatly organized and stacked.

Satisfied, she walked over to her closet changing clothes to a different set of fatigues. More tight fitting and meant for under armor use.

That done. She marched straight off to the mess.

Entering the mess in the middle of the "day", was much akin to entering a cafeteria during an Earth lunch hour. There was absolutely no room and never any food left over.

The worst part were the occasional food fights between Joker and anyone else. She couldn't hurt Joker but she defiantly could delete his extranet bookmarks to "encourage" change.

For the current moment, the mess was more subdued. The quiet murmurings among crew members eating could be heard and the click clatter of plate and silverware.

Lisa Shepard ignored all of this and gunned for the coffee machine, tucked near the XO's office.

The machine was mysteriously quiet and... With an empty pot.

_Figures..._

Distinctively annoyed, she made a note to have a "meeting" regarding proper Coffee etiquette with the rest of the crew, targeting Joker especially.  
Her intense scrutiny of the infernal machine, left her vulnerable for several precious few minutes.

Enough time for a hand to suddenly clasp on her shoulder.

She almost leapt, turning to sock the offender and hand him/her a new one.

She faltered when she noticed Kaidan's grinning smile and a hand holding out a cup of coffee as a peace offering.

Relaxing, she took the offered nectar of the god's and sipped it. Still warm and just the way she liked it.

"EDI told me about the distress call." He offered as an explanation,but also as question. He wanted her to take him with her.

"Ah." Lisa paused, teasing Kaidan, before wrapping her free arm around his waist and bestowing a deep kiss full of coffee aroma.

"Of course Kaidan." She supplied as follow up. _I can't operate without you_

Kaidan simply smiled back, setting his cup down, and responding with a hugging kiss of his own.

"Hey lovebirds, maybe some prep would be nice? ETA 30 minutes." Came Joker's snarky interruption from the com.

"He does have a point...to the armory... Major."

"Aye, aye commander..." Saluted Kaidan, then held his hand out. "After you."

"Thank you." She replied taking his hand, walking together in silence to the elevator.

The elevator ride was uneventful and slow. Still was worth the Alenko quality time.

Upon their arrival to the Shuttle bay deck, Lisa was not at all surprised by Vega's efficiency, or in other words "found through scuttlebutt regarding the rescue mission and promptly suited up in hopes he'll be chosen for the mission".

He stood there, right by Cortez quietly chatting, quietly still hinting.

Lisa could only sigh, and relent. "Vega, you win, you'll cover my six for today!"

Vega whooped.

Kaidan however took offense. "Hey, I keep your six!"

"Yes you do. You are still my right hand, and don't you forget it. Vega is simply getting the rare opportunity to join us, and be graced by your biotic prowess." She replied, intentionally stroking his ego.

Kaidan piped down, satisfied for the moment. Vega could only grin and hope not to get blasted by a blue ball of a reave courtesy of Alenko.

The moment of peace, was all she needed. She donned a modified version of the old Cerberus Ajaks armor, minus the shameless Cerberus branding. This one replaced the plates of gray with matte black and the white-red stripes of N7 program down her right arm, it looked similar to Kaidan's version, with the exception of N7 logos.

Kaidan finished first, adjusting his armor clasps before reaching over and "assisting" Shepard with hers. Certain witness could have sworn Kaidan came from the back, hugging, whilst kissing Shepard on the neck and cheek.

The quiet group gear up and weapon selection was interrupted joyously by Joker.

"5 minutes!"

"Alright, everyone into the shuttle!" Shouted Lisa, as she pocketed her pistol and began walking over to the shuttle. Kaidan and Vega right on her heels.

Their arrival was met by Cortez's prompt preflight checks bells and whistles, and slight arguments could be heard with Joker, interspersed with EDI's comments.

As soon as Cortez was finished, checks, banter and all. The agile shuttle lifted off and dived from the shuttle bay deep into the harsh atmosphere of Natalgia, a frozen wasteland.

"How close do you figure we can set down?" Lisa asked, standing over Cortez.

"Very close, thankfully despite resting on a hill side, the top is flat. You should have no problems rappelling down onto it." Cortez reported. "However, I would make it quick, the temperatures are nothing to sneeze at." He added, a warning.

"Hopefully, we can make it quick. Grab the logs and save any survivors."

"I don't think anyone could have survived that Commander." Mused Vega.

"Always hope, James. There's always hope." Despite her bravado, Lisa secretly agreed with James. The wreckage from up here seems split, the possibility of survivors goes to nill if the ship without escape pods doesn't survive intact.

With a gentle bump, Cortez set down the shuttle. The trio gracefully exited carrying rappelling gear and weapons of all shapes and sizes.

Lisa peered over the edge, into the cold abyss and just below the bridge of the _The Excelsior,_ a civilian refuge ship.

She set up basic stakes, testing the strength of the snow. When she felt confident, she began rappelling the twenty feet below.

Stopping ever so often, she checked upward the progress of her squad mates and the the ice. A healthy dose of paranoia from her N7 bootcamp days.

* * *

_Hey Lisa check it out! Daryll hastily planted down a stake, fully intent on speed rappelling downwards into a nearby cliff. His progress was good, but Lisa had a bad feeling about this. _

_This was her first time rappelling, Daryll and Dexter were teaching her the "ropes" so to speak._

_"Shit!", a cry of panic lifted her out of her musings of feelings and she caught a glimpse of a stake loosening and falling to the abyss, taking Daryll with it. Dexter hopelessly tried to grab Daryll, but to no avail. _

_Moments later, Daryll met the ground with a sharp crack. He was instantly killed._

* * *

She shuddered out the memory, intent on not losing any of her squad mates today.

At the last foot, she gingerly touched the ship, trying not to cause it too fall of the cliff.

The ship complained but did not move.

She was joined, with equal care by Vega and Kaidan.

They could see merely a few feet a way, a central console, full of glowing stations, which acted as the "steering wheel" so to speak. Lisa went first, testing each part of the floor, before putting her full weight on it.

This went on for a good fifteen minutes until she was at the console.

Turns out the ship was attacked by Reaper forces, before it committed an FTL jump gone awry, as evidenced by the wreckage.

"Let's check the last intact section for survivors." She announced. Turning to her left, she went through a door marked as "To Engineering".

The steps were half broken, and protruding in some areas but overall still maintained a capable flight of stairs.

They met an area where, the light of the planet's sun shone perfectly into the required engineering consoles.

Again, the ritual was repeated, gingerly test, set weight, test, set weight. All in the name of safety. _If it's anything I have learned, gravity hates me, scratch that the entire known universe.  
_

The sun proved blinding, setting her shades on her helmet on, she worked to find how the Reapers attacked the ship, so far away from the combat area. _That's odd._ There was evidence of engine tampering, _during the attack. FTL failed not because of Reapers _she realized _but because of this?_

Without warning a blue human shaped creature jumped and attacked her. _HUSKS!_

The husk caught her by suprising, slamming her onto the ground. The floor complained but held. Kaidan promptly shot it and helped Shepard up.

"Well that explains everything." He cringed.

"We need to get out of here. This is not good. Could be a trap." Added Vega.

"I agree-." Shepard began, before the entire ship started collapsing on itself. Everyone was shifted, thrown towards the side and split up.

Ship engineering catapulted to a cliff further down.


	2. Rescue

Rescue Fall Chapter 2

* * *

The ship stopped its convulsion and tenderly settled on the next cliff.

Lisa groaned, noticing a very much large pile of blood under her and a broken omnitool. _How long was I out?_

Gaping hole on her abdomen, ribs probably broken, shoulder hurts like crap. Rolling nausea wrecked her body, she felt as though moving would worsen it, so she thought better of it.

She tried to get someone on the com, but heard only static. She was concerned about Kaidan and Vega. If she was in such a miserable position what about them?

* * *

Alenko POV.

A migraine worthy headache coursed through his head, as he woke. He noticed only Vega grumbling and getting up, a distinct lack of Lisa Shepard.

"Lisa?" He asked looking around, getting up himself. His omnitool telling him, he only had minor injuries.

Boxes, debris, and sunlight, but she was nowhere to be found.

"Damn, we need to find Lola, and get out of here." Vega announced, worry laced in his voice.

"I'll try the com." Kaidan called, both Lisa and Joker. "I think they're jamming us."

"C'mon, Lola can't be far. We got to move husks, aren't a pretty thing." Vega said as he started investigating his surroundings, joined by a nodding and concerned Kaidan.

* * *

Shepard POV

Lisa was simply, miserable. She managed to get some medigel onto the wound but quickly found it only slowed the bleeding. So she found herself using rescue dressing to just try to plug the hole.

Moving was growing to become an increasingly annoyingly bad option.

She all but confirmed her practically shattered ribs, but added a broken leg to the list as well as ominous looking holes in the ground next to her.

She opted for securing her pistol and keeping a rescue message going on the com. Between her biotics and pistol, she felt she could handle trouble until rescue came.

She detested the need, but she painfully crawled up to a wall and waited.

* * *

Alenko POV

They began their descent into the lower decks via another flight of mangled stairs, calling out Shepard's name, as they shoot husks down. Their vigilance was full of increasing worry over Shepard with each time she did not respond to her name.

"Hey Major! Look!" Kaidan shot a husk, pushed another with biotics over a hole, and looked over to where Vega was pointing. The vague splattering of blood.

He quickly brought up his omnitool, and scanned over it. Confirming what he feared. Shepard's blood.

"She must of fell through here." He quietly said, noting the darkened area below them. Full of pointy deadly objects. Kaidan shuddered.

Their pace quickened, worry accelerated tenfold, their voices shouting louder both into the com and in the air.

* * *

Shepard POV

_Ugh, not going to last long._ She thought, as she shot the fiftieth husk to advance on her vulnerable position. _Where are you Kaidan?_ She was having trouble keeping her eyes open, and acute aware of blood loss settling into dangerous levels.

She could only lie there, and laugh. _A stupid ship takes me out._

The area around her looked to be a general cargo area, nothing she could use for help. At least that what her eyes said at first.

She spotted a flare gun in one of the many scattered boxes. _Old School, 21st century likely._

Painfully aware of the potential mental cost of getting to that flare gun, she had to bat those thoughts with the outweighing thoughts of being rescued.

Carefully, she crawled, keeping her chest straight and her broken left leg out of immediate work. It took some work, but she did it. Reaching into the box, she glanced at the directions of the flare gun. "Shoot into the air..."

Her monologue was interrupted by distance gun sounds, and cries of her name. _Kaidan._

She tried to get a sense of where the yelling and shooting was coming from. It sounded a lot like they were descending into her area. How did she get down here in the first place?

Glancing up, she saw the unmistakable look of a hole, going up several decks._ Oh._

_At least it wasn't a fish tank this time.  
_

Shaking her musings, she tried to find a way to incorporate the flare gun into her get-me-out-of-here-stat escape plan. Shooting through the door would be a waste unless she knew they would be around to see it, shooting through the hole would be an equal waste as she thought they probably were descending.

So she settled for the wait and see method. She knew they were drawing close.

Though the wait and see method didn't settle much for her body, and unfortunately her routine check of her pistol found she was out of ammo and too exhausted to use biotics. A combo that had her try to figure now instead of later.

She heard the unmistakable groan of a husk coming in from the doorway and without a second thought fired the flare straight into its chest.

The light was blinding, and the sound deafening. She screamed, her world turned black.

* * *

Alenko POV

A loud burst and light echoed and shone through from a door in the hallway they were in.

"What was that?" Asked Vega, pausing his search, to lean his head towards the direction of the sudden disturbance.

"I don't know, but I'm not sitting around. That might have been Lisa." Kaidan answered as he picked up his pace from a trot to a outright run, closely followed by Vega.

Just before they entered the room, they heard a husk groan, and a Shepard like scream. Without a second thought, they burst in. Mowing down the husk, weapons and biotics ready.

That is when they noticed a bleeding slumped Lisa Shepard, with a gaping hole in her side and a none too healthy pale face.

He quickly kneeled by her, running his omnitool over her. _Shoot. Broken ribs, shattered shoulder, broken leg, and blood loss..._

Safely satisfied that she didn't have a spinal injury, Kaidan got to work applying the combined stash of medi gel from his and Vega's. The medi gel held and helped but was only a temporary solution.

He gently hooked his left arm from under her legs and his right under her chest, picking her up bridal style.

"Okay, lets go. Ideas?" He asked.

"Let's get to somewhere, where we have access to the outside. We could ask Cortez, to try rescuing us from a open hole." Offered Vega.

"Let's go." Kaidan said, grabbing onto Vega's idea. He felt so helpless, with Lisa in his arms. _Please don't die on me. I can't lose you._

They walked back up the hallway, and flight of stairs in silence, minus the occasional husk shooting.

Backtracking to where they awoke, remembering a sun filled hole by them.

"Joker, Cortez come in!" Tried Vega through the com.

"Co-bzzz-here-ja-in-pl-ace" The static filled answer, despite it being hard to comprehend was almost a blessing at the moment.

"Esteban, if you can hear us, Shepard is critically injured, we need evac." Vega tried again, slower to ensure more of his voice got through.

"I-he-r-yo-trac-ng-pos-on-be-the-e-oon." Came Cortez's scattered reply. Betraying no confusion, and yet carying a tint of worry.

Moving closer to the hole, they vaguely could hear the outside booming sounds of a shuttle descending, dangerously stirring the ruins of the civilian ship.

The shuttle glided into view coming as close as it can. Just a mere foot of access, marking the pilot within as one of THE best shuttle pilots.

The doors opened revealing a concerned Cortez armed with all sorts of medical supplies stashed within the shuttle.

Vega crossed over first, telling Cortez to make sure Chakwas is ready, then turning to help Kaidan as he clutched Lisa tightly in his grasp. Kaidan settled in the back, setting Lisa across two seats. He took Cortez's medical supplies and used them to reapply medi gel and apply basic bandages.

The mere moment they were both in and doors were closed, Cortez stepped on it. Pushing the poor Kodiak to the limit.

Kaidan could vaguely hear the "encouragement" from Joker. His own concern, albeit hidden, slightly showing.

The Kodiak audibly slowed, as she approached the _Normandy_. Quiet as though sneaking in, she deposited herself in the eye of the storm.

The eye of the storm, not for long.

The opening of the shuttle doors, revealed a Dr Chakwas armed with more medical equipment one could count, orderlies and a stretcher. They bull rushed Kaidan and strapped all sorts of items, oxygen, IV etc. to her, before transferring her to the stretcher. Chakwas could be heard barking orders to go to the med bay and clearing the way, Kaidan simply followed behind the chaos and into the elevator.

The momentary pause, was no pause, rattling off numbers, keeping pressure and injecting contents. The medical team worked to keep Shepard alive.

When they arrived at the crew deck, they found the had a waiting audience concerned for the safety of their commander and hero. Kaidan, went forward, escorting the team to the med bay.

Just as when he himself was to enter, to stay by Shepard's, by Lisa's side, he was stopped.

Chakwas grabbed him by the arm and said with a fake calmness. "It's best you don't stay here. For now."

Kaidan, simply stared as the doors closed. He could't bare losing the love of his life again.

_Please don't leave me. Please don't die._


End file.
